During the past twenty years, numerous models have been proposed to describe the osmotic behavior of biological cells during freezing and thawing. Although these studies have pinpointed the important biophysical parameters governing the volumetric response of cells at subzero temperatures they all have one serious drawback. Namely, all of the current models deal with a single, isolated cell suspended in an infinite amount of bathing solution which is being cooled or warmed uniformly at a constant rate. No provision is made for those common situations where (1) the volume of cells is comparable to the volume of the suspending solution or (2) the cellular system is cooled or warmed in a non-uniform manner with time due to the inability of the freeze-thaw device to handle the large amount of latent heat generated during freezing or absorbed during thawing. The purpose of the present study is therefore to analytically investigate cellular osmotic behavior under non-ideal, but typical, freeze-thaw conditions.